She was born in Sheffield to a Quaker family. Her father was the banker Frederic Seebohm (created a life peer as Baron Seebohm in April 1972), while her great-grandfather was the economic historian, also called Frederic Seebohm. Glendinning grew up near York and after attending Millfield School in Somerset, went up to Oxford to study modern languages.
Saint Mary's School, Wantage, Millfield School, Somerville College, Oxford and University of Southampton.
Her sister is Caroline Seebohm, the American biographer. They divorced in 1981. Another son, Simon Glendinning, lectures in European Philosophy at the London School of Economics having previously taught at the University of Kent at Canterbury.
Another son Hugo Glendinning is a photographer and artist.
Married 1st O. North. V. Glendinning in 1959 (divorced in 1981), four son. Married 2nd Terence de Vere White in 1981.
